Tips:

Annotate the prompt, make sure you are writing from the right time period. Circle the time they want you to talk about. remember the century is always a number ahead the actual year. (ex 15th century talks about the 1600’s) Then, make sure you know what historical thinking skill the DBQ is asking of you. (ex, if the essay is telling you to evaluate, make sure you write an evaluation essay

Actual template:

(contextulization) (3-4 sentences, should explain how the event you are writing your essay about came to be) (insert thesis) (if you want to address counterarguments put despite (whatever idea your hisotircal interpretation goes against) (put your argument here)

(Firstly, topic sentence)(Paraphrase evidence from document) (explain how this connects to yout topic sentence, ideally use evidence beyond the docs here) (Paraphrase another peice of evidence from document)(explain how this proves the point of yout topic sentence, maybe try to sneak in relevant information beyond the docs)

(other tranistion word, topic sentence) (paraphrase evidence from document) (explain how this connects to your topic sentence, ideally use evidence beyond the docs here) (paraphrase another piece of evidence from document)(explain how this proves the point of your topic sentence and gry to incoproate outside information )

If you want, the third body paragraph can adrdress a counterargument if you chose to add one in your thesis. This can help you gain complexity.(other tranistion word topic sentence) (paraphrase evidence from odcument)(explain how this connects to your topic sentence, ideally use evidence beyond the docs here)(Paraphrase another peice fo evidence from document)(demonstrate what this proves and connect it to an event not explicitely named in the docs)

(restate thesis) (restate topic sentences)